Joel Hanrahan Friday Rumors: Pirates Now Looking at Shortstops?

According to John Perrotto, now that the Pirates have agreed to terms with Francisco Liriano, they have switched their trade preference in return for closer Joel Hanrahan. He mentions they are looking at Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon, as well as Jose Iglesias, the shortstop from the Boston Red Sox

Iglesias is a 22-year-old(turns 23 on January 5) with two partial seasons of experience with the Red Sox. Signed in 2009 out of Cuba, he was ranked by Baseball America #52 on their top 100 prospect list prior to the 2011 season. This past season he hit .266/.318/.306 in 88 games at AAA Pawtucket, followed by 25 games as the Red Sox regular shortstop over the end of the season. Iglesias hit just .118 in 77 AB’s for the Red Sox, with a 4/16 BB/SO ratio.

Gordon has been mentioned before as a possible trade target. He has more major league experience than Iglesias and he is two years older. Gordon played 87 games for the Dodgers this season, hitting .228, with a .561 OPS. In 2011, Baseball America ranked him 26 spots ahead of Iglesias on their top prospect list. Gordon also made the 2010 list in 46th place.

John Dreker

John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.

Neither of those guys improve the team as it stands… what happens to Barmes if they pick up Iglesias or Dee Gordon? We have 2 all glove, no hit SS? Does he get traded to a team like the A’s? I get the idea long term but not for 2013.

http://www.facebook.com/lee.young.161 Lee Young

Do not trade Hanny if his value is that low!
Hope that he comes back and is either the closer of your NL Central Champions or is traded at the trade deadline to a team desperate for a closer?

Or ask for another prospect?

Of the two, I’d rather have Iglesias, tho.

TonyPenaforHOF

I agree. If his value is that low keep him until the trade deadline.

Y2JGQ2

realistically lee, we’d probably have to throw in mercer or D’arnoud along with hanny……or maybe we’d be lucky enough to ship barmes off with hanny and agree to eat 3M or so….this would be a great deal for the pirates. We don’t have any future right now at short

http://www.facebook.com/stephen.brooks.581 Stephen Brooks

Gordon isn’t even “all glove.” His dWAR is actually negative.

But if they change the rules to allow you to steal first base, boy, watch out!

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

exactly.

we already have a fast shortstop who cant hit and field, and his brother just got traded to the Mets.

Y2JGQ2

Guys guys! These are rookies, they WILL help us. Keep in mind that for 2/3 of the season, Clint Barmes was basically a golden retriever, he could catch pretty much everything, but couldn’t even hold a bat. On top of that, he runs like a 72 ford pinto. We need Speed, we need a young prospect at short, lets be real, we have nothing in the minors, and drafts haven’t produced real stellar options at shortstop lately either since many of the big arm, slightly fellows who run fast typically are signed young as minor league free agents. This is the first trade which makes sense, Barmes is terrible. They can each hit as well as him now, run faster, and provide a FUTURE at a very weak position. Teams don’t like giving up shortstops, and a closer is much easier to find than a young shortstop who can run……..This is a great opportunity!

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

i dont want to be out of line here, but youre dead wrong about Barmes. he was signed to be a defense first SS and he definately brought his glove to the ballpark. the dude is excellent!!!

his bat isnt good but it certainly is better than both Gordon AND Iglesias.

CityofChamps

Very debatable. Gordon hit .304 in 2011. Sure, he’s basically a singles hitter, but his speed could be great for the lineup and his bat has a far higher potential then Barmes’.

http://www.facebook.com/sean.matthews.165 Sean Matthews

I can imagine Dee already on second base and Walker with a 1-0 count and Cutch on deck.

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

if we add Gordon we will have one excellent fielder in Barmes and one guy who can run really fast in Gordon.

Gordon isnt even close to being the fielder that Iglesias can be. And his hitting is poor. He has no power at all with just a smattering of XBH throughout his career, and almost all of them due to his speed.

IC Bob

I would love to get Gordon, The guy is can flat out run and has hit until last year. He is young and can lead off. This would be a great deal for the Bucs. I guarantee we would have to toss in something juicy along with Hanny to get it done. I for one would be all for it.

leadoff

If they get either of these guys they will be nothing but pinch runners, no way is Hurdle going to play one of these guys ahead of Barmes, they would have to trade Barmes and I think if that happens, Hurdle and NH might not see eye to eye with each other. They might be looking at either one of these guys as a SS for the future, but surely not for this year. A move like this would weaken the bench worse than it is, IMO I would rather see Hanrahan go for a very good bench player than one of these guys, I think that Mercer is a very good back up for Barmes and they don’t have pay much to keep him. SS, IMO is not a position of need this year. SS is not a position that Hurdle is good at managing IMO, he does not seem to want younger players on the field at that position from what I can see. Harrison is better than either one of these guys and he can’t get on the field.

Y2JGQ2

Leadoff- You and I are in agreement here on one fact and one fact only. Hurdle wouldn’t play either over Barmes. He wouldn’t play Derek Jeter over Barmes. Maybe it’s his illegit son, who knows. One thing NH does have control of, is Barmes. He can’t play if he isn’t on the team. NH can trade him, eat half of the salary and get a D level minor leaguer in return, and Hurdle can do nothing about it. The joys of being in charge. We ate McClouths deal last year and he was still way better than Barmes. Unfortunately Barmes hits awfully, can’t run, strikes out pretty much in every important AB, and has no reason to be on the team in 2013 other than a late inning defensive backup. Both of these guys are WAY better than anyone we’ve seen at shortstop since Jay Bell.

TonyPenaforHOF

Since Jay is in Pittsburgh now maybe we can bring him out of retirement :)

http://www.facebook.com/lee.young.161 Lee Young

If only! Sigh….

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

sorry, but neither Gordon nor Iglesias should start ahead of Barmes. Your description of Barmes at the plate is accurate but its really obvious that you have never seen Gordon hit. He makes d’Arnaud look like tony gwynn.

At least Iglesias can field. Gordon has shown only speed throughout his minor league career.

IC Bob

Theirs this SS who hit 260 the last year and had over 50 steals and OBP above 300 hundred and he is only 24 years old. Do we want him on the Bucs? According to this forum we would much rather have Barmes at 200 with an OBP of .230. What is wrong with this picture.

If your wondering where I got the numbers I combined Gordons two years (he was hurt most of last year. The guy has succeeded everywhere he has been. Even in a down year he was offensively superior to Barmes. The upside to Gordon is through the rough. He also would finally give the Bucs the leadoff hitter they need and the type of speed and aggressiveness Hurdle always dreams about. Last but not least he is cheap and under control for 4-5 years. Whats not to like?

http://battlingbucs.wordpress.com battlingbucs

Gordon was not a better hitter than Barmes last season. Barmes posted a .260 wOBA and a 62 wRC+. Terrible numbers sure but still better than Gordon’s .253 wOBA and 58 wRC+.

Also if you combine Gordon’s past two season his line is .260/.299/.315, .274 wOBA, 73 wRC+. Certainly better than this past season but then again if you do the same for Barmes he has a .236/.292/.353, .285 wOBA, 78 wRC+. And its not even close defensively, Barmes clearly is superior to Gordon. Over the past 2 season Barmes is worth 44 DRS.

All this doesn’t mean we have a good shortstop in Barmes but what it does show is that Gordon is no clear upgrade.

http://battlingbucs.wordpress.com battlingbucs

Just for clarity that is 44 DRS more than Gordon.

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

i’ll buy you a beer for making this much sense. very well said.

capirate

I would be OK with Dee Gordon. He is young and I think has some potential with the bat. I don’t expect Iglesias to ever hit so I don’t want him.

http://www.facebook.com/kirk.vandergrift Kirk Lee

I’d like Gordon more than Iglesias, if only because he once had the higher ceiling and can maybe buck the Pirates current terrible-baserunning-trend, but I also kind of agree with the general sentiment here: I don’t see either of these guys providing much value. Gordon’s defense is questionable and both are pretty worthless with the bat. I don’t think starting Barmes for a year while we give one of these guys Merceresque playing time every 3 weeks is gonna turn their careers around.

emjayinTN

Maybe we can find a Shortstop who may be able to break .700 OPS? Boston also has a kid by the name of Bogaerts. We are wasting a trading chip by accepting either Gordon or Iglesias – maybe we can get Pedro Ciriaco again!

http://www.facebook.com/lee.young.161 Lee Young

He. Is Boston’s number 1 prospect. I doubt they’d trade him for Hanny.

http://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.ewing.9 Jeremiah Ewing

Iglesias’s glove is elite at the mlb level. He would honestly be a great replacement for Barnes. Gordon reminds me of a fast Cedeno, with horrible OBP, and his only asset being elite speed… which you need to get on base to use. Give me elite defense any day!

http://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.ewing.9 Jeremiah Ewing

Barmes… damn auto-correct!

elgaupo

I concur. I’m used to having a strong defensive SS again and don’t want to go the below average glove/slightly better offense route.

http://www.facebook.com/david.donahue.100 whiteAngus

agreed.

http://www.facebook.com/matt.beam.16 Matt Beam

If we’re talking a trade with the Bosox, I personally want Bryce Brentz (AAA RF) instead of Iglesias. Other than the fact that they spent $6M+ to sign him, Iglesias would not be hard for Boston to part with given the impending arrival of Bogaerts and the recent drafting of Devin Marrero… they’re very solid at SS in the minors.

Also, as much as we like to bash Nutting, can somebody at least acknowledge that he just spent almost $13M to sign Liriano and shore up the back end of the rotation while still maintaining our one trade chip

https://profiles.google.com/106508220943703406151 Kevin Anstrom

Great move by the Pirate leadership to sign Liriano.

If the Pirates get a young SS for one-year of Hanrahan that you be great value.

Two years ago Gordon and Iglesias were rated the #2 and #3 shortstops in the minors (behind Manny Machado). That’s higher than Alen Hanson will be rated this year.

If you have a moment …

Compare Jose Iglesias with Omar Visquel at a similar age.
Compare Dee Gordon with Michael Bourn at a similar age.
Also Dee Gordon had injury issues this year (thumb).
Compare Dee Gordon’s year 2 with the second MLB seasons for Pedro Alvarez, Buster Posey, Jason Heyward.

IC Bob

You are making to much sense. Most of the posters would Take a low A SS batting 270 over a Major league SS batting 230 who batted 340 in low A. Heaven forbid if the young SS didn’t immediately bat 300 in the majors. We are in cycle of just turning and burning right now.